Electric signaling attachment for clocks.



'.|. A. McDOLE.

ELECTRIC SIGNALING ATTACHMENT FOR CLOCKS.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 26, I916.

Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

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THE COLUMBIA PLANOGR-APH co., WASHINGTON, n. c.

J. A. McDOLE ELECTRIC SIGNALING ATTACHMENT FOR CLOCKS.

APPLICATION HLED JAN- 26] 1916- 1,180,780. Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

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JOSEPH A. MCDOLE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC SIGNALING ATTACHMENT FOR CLOCKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

Application filed January 26, 1916. Serial No. 74,300.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. MGDOLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Signaling Attachments for Clocks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement inthe class of electrically operated attachments for clocks, involving a contact-member movable about the face of the clock-dial by one ofthe hands, preferably the minutehand, and also lengthwise of the hand by engagement with a spiral guide on the dial, each spiral turn denoting an hour-interval, whereby the hand in turning causes the contact-member, under guidance of the spiral, to move gradually toward the dial-center until it encounters another contact-member placed in its path for closing the circuit containing a bell, or other signal to be operated when the moving contact-member reaches that point,'which occurs at a predetermined time for signaling.

The primary object of my improvement is to cause the movable contact-member, after having reached the end of its movement toward the dial-center, to be mechanically self-released and automatically returned by gravity, for repeated action, to its initial position, thereby to greatly simplify the mechanism of the attachment and enhance its reliability in operation besides rendering it comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a face view of a clock-dial equipped with my improved attachment; Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on line 2, Fig. 1, with a diagrammatic showing of an electric bell in a battery-circuit; Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective face view of the arm which carries the movable contact-member, the outer end of, the arm being broken away; Fig. 4: is a similar perspective rear view of the same; Fig. 5 is a perspective face view of the movable contact-member, and Fig. 6 is a similar rear view of the same; Fig. 7 is an enlarged broken sectional view showing the movable contact-member on the carrying arm in engagement with the spiral in the face of a disk and in its outermost position; Fig. 8 is a similar view showing the movable contactmember tilted after having cleared the innermost turn of the spiral; Fig. 9 is an enlarged broken view in section 7, and Fig. 10 is an enlarged broken view in section on line 10, Fig. 1. The views in Figs. 2 to 10, inclusive, are greatly exaggerate The clock-dial 11 shown is of the ordinary 12-hour variety; and 12 and 12 are the arbors respectively for the minute-hand 13 and hour-hand 1 1. These arbors are surrounded by but insulated from a sleeve 15 extending centrally through the dial, flanged about its outer end and threaded externally at its inner end for the application of a nut 16. A disk 17 of insulating material surrounds the sleeve 15 against the dial-face; a metal (copper) disk 18 covers and bears against the disk 17 and a disk 19 of insulating material (preferably hard rubber) covers and bears against the disk 18. These disks are rigidly clamped together against the dial-face between the outer sleeve-flange and nut 16; and a metal contact-carrying arm 20, hereinafter more fully described, rotatably surrounds, at an annulus on its inner end, the enlarged portion of the sleeve adjacent its flange, in electrical contact with the sleeve but spaced from the disk 19.

A generator of electrical current, indicated conventionally at 21 in Fig. 2, is shown to include in its circuit a signaling device, which may be an electric bell 22 in any suitable location. A stud 23 projects from the rear face of the copper disk 18 through but out of contact with the clock-dial and is connected with one side of the battery, the other side of the latter being connected with the nut 16, thereby to include the finger 20 in the battery-circuit.

The plate or disk 19 is provided in its face with a spiral groove 19; and any desired number of headed contact-pins, of which one is represented at 2 1 (Figs. 1 and 9), extend through the series of disks, in electrical contact with the disk 18 and exposed at the spiral surface of the disk 19. The number of turns in the spiral 19 is preferably twenty-four to correspond with the number of hours in a day.

The arm 20, which is of metal, preferably but not necessarily throughout its entire extent, is curved at its outer end toward the adjacent end of the minute-hand and is connected therewith by an insulated stud 25 (Fig. 10), the insulating member of which passes through an eye in the hand. The wider section of the arm is slotted longituon line 9, Fig.

dinally at 26, and recesses 27 and 28 are pro stop-shoulders 30 and 31 are formed on the arm-back near the outer end of the slot, the arm being beveled at 32 adjacent the shoulder 30, the bevel extending to the inner end of the recess 28.

A contactmember 33 is movably confined in the arm-slot 26. As shown, this member comprises a metal block fitting between the slot-edges and provided on its inner end with an outer pair of laterally projecting fingers 34 and a similar inner pair 35 to overlap the edges of the slot and embrace the arm between the pairs; a similar pair of fingers 36 is provided on the outer end of the front face of the block to overlap the edges of the arm-slot, and a relatively short tongue 37 projects from the adjacent rear right-hand corner of the block to register with and pass through the recesses 27 and 28 in the respective inner and outer extreme positions of the contact-member. On the back of the block is provided a rearward projection 38, having a beveled contact surface (Fig. 9) and a protruding finger-portion for engaging the spiral to move the member 33 inwardly along the arm-slot 36 in the travel of the arm 20 about the face of the clock-dial by the turning of the minute hand.

The operation is as follows: A contact-pin 24 is provided in the disk 9 on an elevated side of the spiral turn therein corresponding with that hour of the twenty-four, or fraction thereof at which the signal is to be actuated when the minute-hand points to that time'and has then brought the contact-member into engagement with the pin. Of course, as will be understood, any desired number of pins 24 may be placed at different points about the spiral for actuating the signal at predetermined intervals in a day, or in each day, by successive engagement of the member 33 with the pins in its spiral path. As arbitrarily represented in Fig. 1, the pin is provided in the eighteenth turn 'of the spiral, counting from its innermost turn, in position to be encountered by the contact-member 33 when the hour-hand points at VI on the clock-dial, and the minute-hand at I, the time being five minminutes after six. With the clock running, the minute-hand carries about with it the arm 20, whereby the member 33, by engagement of its rear projection 38 with the spiral groove 19, starting in its outermost turn, follows the spiral and moves inwardly along the slotted arm, until the contact member encounters the pin 24 and closes the generator-circuit to actuate the signal. The beveled projection 38 wipes across-the exposed end of the pin 24 in its path, and prolongs the operation of the signal for a few seconds, until it clears the pin and thus opens the circuit. The spiral continues to move the block 33 inwardly along the armslot 26 until the projection 38 has cleared the inner end of the spiral, when the block drops against the bar 29 and thus registers the tongue 37 with the notch or recess 27. The block then rests on that bar as a fulcrum, and being overbalanced by the weight toward its opposite end, it tilts into the position represented in Fig. 8. There it remains until the arm, in the continued travel of the minute-hand, attains or approaches a vertical depending position, when it drops to the outer end of the arm-slot into the position represented in Fig. 7. There the shoulders 30 and 31 are encountered as a fulcrum by the fingers 35 to arrest the block in position to register the tongue 37 with the recess 28 and admit the tongue through the latter to cause the block to hang straight, and in attaining that position, the beveled section 32 of the arm is encountered by the tongue and tends to guide the block toward the face of the disk 19 and engage the projection 38 with the outermost turn of the spiral. continuous turning of the minute-hand, has moved the block 33 to the inner end of the slot in the arm 20, it clears the spiral and tilts forwardly, and when the arm approaches or attains a vertical depending position, the block drops by gravity to its initial position and reengages its projection 38 with the spiral to be again fed toward the center of the clock-dial.

As will be seen, the loop formed by the minute-hand and the arm 20 is longer than the hour-hand, which therefore does not extend into the path of the stud 25 as an obstruction to the minute-hand and arm.

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of construction thus specifically shown and described, and I do not intend by illustrating a single, specific or preferred embodiment of my invention to be limited thereto; my intention being in the following claims to claim protection upon all the novelty there may be in my invention as fully as the state of the art will permit.

hat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In combination with a clock, an electric signaling attachment comprising a disk of insulating material on the face of the clockdial and provided with a spiral groove in its face, a metal arm connected with a hand of the clock to turn therewith, a contactmember carried on said arm to move lengthwise thereof and engaging said groove to follow the spiral toward its inner end by the turning of the hand, a contact-pin in Thus each time the spiral, in the ICC said spiral in the path of said member, means on the arm for tilting said member at the end of its inward movement and thereby freeing it to drop by gravity to its initial outer position on the arm in the approach of the hand toward a downwardly-vertical position, and an electric circuit containing a signaling device and including said pin and member.

2. In combination with a clock, an electric signaling attachment comprising a disk of insulating material on the face of the clock-dial and provided with a spiral groove in its face, a metal arm containing a longitudinal slot and connected with a hand of the clock to turn therewith, a contact-member confined in said slot to be moved lengthwise of the arm and engaging said groove to follow the spiral toward its inner end by the turning of the hand, a contact-pin in said spiral in the path of said member, and means on the arm at the inner end of said slot for tilting said member at the end of its inward movement and thereby freeing it from the slot to drop by gravity to its initial outer position in the slot in the approach of the hand toward a downwardly-vertical position, and an electric circuit containing a signaling device and including said pin and member.

3. In combination with a clock, an electric signaling attachment comprising a disk of insulating material on the face of the clock-dial and provided with a spiral groove in its face, a metal arm containing a longitudinal slot and connected with a hand of the clock to turn therewith, a fulcrum-bar on the arm and a recess near the inner end of the slot, a contact-member formed of a block provided with tongue to register with said recess, the block being movably confined in said slot to bear against said bar and be tilted forwardly when the block is at its innermost position in the arm-slot, a projection on the block to en gage said groove, a contact-pin in said spiral in the path of said projection, and an electric circuit containing a signaling device and including said pin and member.

et. In combination with a clock, an electric signaling attachment comprising a disk of insulating material on the face of the Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the clock-dial and provided with a spiral groove in its face, a metal arm containing a longitudinal slot and connected with a hand of the clock to turn therewith, a fulcrum-bar on the arm and a recess adjacent thereto near the inner end of the slot, stop-shoulders on the back of the arm'near its outer end and a recess adjacent thereto in the slotedge, a contact-member formed of a block provided with a tongue and movably confined in said slot to bear against said bar and be tilted forwardly when the block is at its innermost position in the arm-slot and to encounter said shoulders and turn into straight position in the slot when in its outermost position therein, a projection on the block to engage said groove, a contact-pin in said spiral in the path of said projection, and an electric circuit containing a signaling device and including said pin and member.

5. In combination with a clock, an electric signaling attachment comprising a disk of insulating material on the face of the clock-dial and provided with a spiral groove in its, face, a metal arm containing a longitudinal slot and connected with a hand of the clock to turn therewith, a fulcrum-bar on the arm and a recess adjacent thereto near the inner end of the slot, stop-shoulders on the back of the arm near its outer end and a recess adjacent thereto in the slotedge, a beveled section of the arm extending to said last-named recess near one of said shoulders, a contact-member formed of a block provided with a tongue and movably confined in said slot to bear against said bar and be tilted forwardly when the block is at its innermost position in the arm-slot and to encounter said shoulders and turn into straight position in the slot when in its outermost position therein, a projection on the block to engage said groove, a contactpin in said spiral in the path of said projection, and an electric circuit containing a signaling device and including said pin and member.

JOSEPH A. MoDOLE.

In presence of:

D. C. THORSEN, C. C. BREUER.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

